[svlug] Which linux distro for production ?

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Ivan Sergio Borgonovo (mail at webthatworks.it):

> Suppose I want zero acquisition costs. 

     "Linux is free if your time has no value."  -- J. Zawinski  ;->

Pedantic quibble:  You can get as close to zero as makes little
difference, if you have a generous friend who will burn CDs, or you have
flat-rate Internet bandwidth, patience, and a desire to do a network
installation, etc.  But somebody's paying something, however you do it.

[You want an Internet server platform with typical packages thereof.
You want high-quality, semi-automated maintenance, and a long platform 
service life before you have to wipe and reinstall.  You want APM/ACPI, 
kernel 2.6 (or equivalent?) w/newer kernel features, and a solid 
developer base.]

> It seems to me that the distros that match most points are Debian and
> Gentoo. Slackware (?). FreeBSD(?).

All of those seem good bets, each in its respective way.  Each has a
different administrative regime and implied mindset, which often
ultimately decide which is suitable for a given admin.  Which in turn is
why it's best to just try a few and see which best suits one's self.